MadIvan
Ensign
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 50
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:19 pm Post subject: Why the Red Sox won and Kerry will lose: Nobility |
 |
|
LINK
| Quote: | Why the Red Sox won and Kerry will lose: Nobility
October 28, 2004 | Ivan Groznii
For anyone interested in history, there is only one sport to watch: baseball.
American baseball is unique in its focus on the past. For example, there are many Chicago White Sox fans who can intelligibly converse about the Black Sox Scandal of 1919. Red Sox fans have a cornucopia of knowledge which enables them to compare their 2004 team to those of say 1986 or 1975 in breathtaking detail. Yankees fans are extremely aware that their stadium is the House that Ruth Built, and know precisely how it got to be that way.
Therefore the victory of the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 World Series finds its real significance in terms of the team’s history. For 86 years, the team has not won a championship; there have been many New Englanders who were born and died within that period and never experienced this singular moment of triumph. The drought had been all the worse because of the Red Sox seeming so tantalisingly close to World Series triumph, particularly in 1986. But now, their fans can rest easy; as a t-shirt that went on sale this morning at MLB.com reads, “Now I Can Die in Peace”.
Overcoming the burden of history was not easy for the Red Sox. Similarly, a contest of historical proportions awaits John Kerry next week. But the qualities which the Red Sox had in copious quantities are missing from John Kerry’s makeup. Because he lacks nobility, which the Red Sox had, it is just as sure that he will lose as it was that the Red Sox triumphed.
The 2004 Red Sox has one great symbol: it is not the hitting of Damon, Ortiz or Ramirez, as important those were. Their symbol is of a red sock, red because of the blood shed by their star pitcher, Curt Schilling in Game 2 of the World Series. Mr. Schilling’s performance is the stuff of which legends are made: prior to the game, he had gotten the Red Sox doctors to stitch up his right ankle, ailing from tendon injury picked up in the American League playoffs. The wound was still seeping during the game. It was clear from the video that he was hobbling off the field after each inning.
This performance was much more than his career or bravado required; Mr. Schilling already has a World Series ring from his time playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He could have been risking his future and thus money in the bank by aggravating his injury. Few people would have questioned him stepping aside due to his injury at such a time. It would have been dismissed, sympathetically, as further evidence of Red Sox bad luck.
Yet he pitched, and dominated. And the reason was simple, as he stated after the game:
“I care more about these 24 guys than anybody I've ever played with. I'd do anything for these guys and I think I feel the same way about them when it comes to me.”
In short, Schilling was willing to risk further injury, suffer through intense pain and possibly hasten the end his career in the name of a higher ideal, that of not letting down his teammates, his friends and the fans.
Other players “stepped up to the plate” due to this example: as Boston first baseman Kevin Millar said, "Curt Schilling picked us up". The team rose to the standard that Schilling set, and won, a triumph still deliciously felt by sports fans throughout New England.
In contrast, it is difficult to imagine a more self-serving and ignoble endgame than that of John Kerry. Recently, Kerry has taken advantage of a report that supposedly stated that powerful explosives had gone missing from the Al Qa Qaa facility in Iraq after the arrival of American troops.
Mr. Kerry accused the Bush Administration of "dodging and bobbing and weaving in their usual effort to avoid responsibility", in light of this incident. However it is not altogether clear that the explosives were in place as the American troops arrived; in fact, it is much more likely that they weren’t there at all.
In spite of this, Kerry has continued to press this particular line of attack. In short, Kerry is jumping to conclusions, and is apparently unbothered that what he is saying may be a lie. Furthermore, he seems to be unconcerned that in the process, he is implying a unfair criticism of the same military that he seeks to lead.
By this, Kerry has shown that nobility, namely, a reticence to use half baked charges for his own ends, is entirely alien to him. There are legitimate critiques to be made of President Bush, particularly on the issue of fiscal responsibility, but it is telling that Kerry would rather embrace a dramatic lie than a pedestrian truth so long as it presses his case. By no means is this an isolated incident: it apparently did not ***** Kerry’s conscience to tell lies about the activities of his fellow military men in Vietnam upon his return. After all, those lies helped Kerry to national prominence.
One must have faith that the same virtues that make Americans cherish the Red Sox victory, and their brave military, will also warn them against Kerry’s duplicity. Perhaps amidst the tales of Schilling, Ortiz, Damon and Ramirez spoken in sports bars throughout the country, there will be a note of disquiet as John Kerry will undoubtedly try to bask in their reflected glow. Having no honour, he deserves neither to stand with men who do have it, nor to be the commander in chief. Having no honour, he deserves defeat as surely as the Red Sox’s nobility earned their victory. Having no honour, he hopefully will find retirement as bitter and puzzling as a long, long dry spell which few but real Red Sox fans can know. |
Regards, Ivan
_________________
 |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
